Caen, Herb. Herb Caen's San Francisco, 1976-1991, page 159. Chronicle Books, 1992.

ISBN

LOVE, LIFE AND ALL THAT COMES BEFORE EVER AFTER

Herb Caen (1992) once said, The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go
on forever. But, what if immortality and forever is all that that you have? What if the gods has
blessed you to look beautiful, young, strong and rich forever? Will you be thankful or not? For us
mortals, it is quite easy to answer these questions. Yes, we will be thankful. We will be thankful
if we are to be beautiful, young, strong and rich forever. It is all that we year after all! However,
what if the paradigm shifted? What if we were born to live forever? Will we still be thankful?
Will we still want to be immortal? You may find the answers to these after reading Samantha
Sottos debut novel entitled, Before Ever After.
Before Ever After is first published back in 2011. It is the story of Max and Shelly, a
seemingly perfect married couple. They had been married for two years after meeting each other
in a European tour which Max headed. The couple was first seen as a very loving couple. They
loved and adored each other however, things crumbled when Max died in a bombing incident
leaving Shelley all alone. But, this is not the end. This is actually the beginning of Shelleys
journey of love, life and all that comes before ever after.
The novel opens with Shelley and Max celebrating Simon and Brads engagement. Simon
and Max are one of the tourists that came along with Shelley in the European tour that Max led
two years ago. In addition, the novel also begins by telling the readers the love and affection Max
have for eggs and chicken, His passion for eggs almost rivaled his devotion to chickens, though

generally he preferred the latter off a plate than on it (Sotto, 2011). Unfortunately, as mentioned
earlier, the novel tells us how Max died in a bombing incident which also killed Simon.
Three years after Maxs death, Shelley is perceived to be in auto-pilot mode. Such is
evidenced by Samantha Sottos description of her saying, Her final breath had been the gasp she
had taken when the bomb shredded Max to pieces. It was the last lungful of air she would take as
Maxs wife and in it was all she had left of him. Little did Shelley know that her entire life will
about to change after answering the door and meeting his 32 year-old husbands 32 year-old
grandson, Paolo. Paolo also explained to Shelley how he became Maxs grandson. He also
narrated how he looked for Shelley so that he could find out how his grandfather who have died
several years ago is still alive and married to another woman. Believing Paolos explanation,
Shelley joined him to travel to the Philippines where Max is last seen.
The novel then progresses with a series of flashbacks telling the stories told by Max to
Shelly during their European tour. However, with the knowledge of Maxs immortality, Shelley
and Paolo quickly realized that such stories are not only stories. Instead, they were Maxs life
and history. The story then reached its peak when Shelley and Paolo arrived in the Philippines
where Shelley found out that she will not be meeting Max there after Paolo confessed that he
made a deal with his grandfather. Such deal indicates that in order for Paolo to be immortal like
his grandfather, he has to find Shelley who unknowingly knows everything after hearing Maxs
story.
Everything then came into a close when Shelley went back to the place which Max
considered as his sanctuary. She later found him inside the house and it was then revealed that
Shelley has drank the poison that could either make her live forever or die completely. Such
could be seen in, Max snatched up the vial. What is this? He tore its silver cap off. It was

empty. What have you done? His face crumpled with despair. I made my choice. (Sotto,
2011). The book closes with an unclear notion of whether Shelley lived or died.
Having discussed all of these, we can clearly see that Samantha Sottos story is very
unique and very fresh. It was written in a third person omniscient point of view which made it
easy for the reader to understand both Shelley, Max and the other characters including those
involved in Maxs story. Such could be seen in, Shelley woke up from a dream about petrified
chickens to find Max gone from bed. Just as well, she thought. She would need to get used to
sleeping on her own again after the tour was over. She dressed and went downstairs (Sotto,
2011).
In addition, the novel is also effective because it has used very dynamic characters.
Shelley is a dynamic character because at first, she is hesitant to fall in love as she was afraid to
be like her mother. However, her feelings toward love and marriage changed when she met Max.
Max is also a dynamic character. This could be seen in the various ways by which he has treated
life and challenges in the different periods of his life. Lastly, Paolo can also be considered as a
dynamic character since at first, he wanted to become an immortal like his grandfather but, he
changed his mind in the end continued on to become a mortal.
Samantha Sotto has also extensively use the setting in telling the novel especially in
Maxs stories. She has used Revolutionary Paris, Medieval Vienna, and Ancient Venice as the
backdrop of Maxs different lives. In addition, she has also compared the color of Shelleys blue
eyes to the blueness of the oceans of the Philippines. Also, Samantha Sotto uses various symbols
to further entice the readers. However, we chose the chicken and eggs as the main symbol. This
is so because it has been mentioned repetitively over the story even in the past lives of Max. That
being said, we believe that the chicken and egg symbolizes Maxs immortality because like the

unending cycle of the chicken and egg, Max also continuous to live forever. All in all, Samantha
Sottos Before Ever After is very entertaining and enticing because it has a mixture of nostalgia
and comedy. This can be seen in the usage of flashbacks and Shelleys unexpected one-liners
like, Shelley cursed Sister Margarets French lessons, and Buttons. They were wonderful
things, Shelley thought. In the twenty-plus years that she had been pushing them in and out of
holes, it was only now that she realized what they were actually for. They heightened anticipation
in a way no zipper could hope to match, (Sotto, 2011).